Respect the Past
by Flyte9393
Summary: Fiona is an exorcist under the command of Renny Epstain. America is dealing well with the akuma problem, but Europe is suffering as the exorcists there dwindle slowly. As she is young, but highly experienced, Fiona is sent across the Atlantic to help.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

_Fiona caressed the mahogany box gently before picking it up. It was not very remarkable compared to other extravagantly decorated boxes she had seen, but even though the box itself had once been precious to her, now it was the inside that felt much more important. _

_In the centre of the lid embellished letters spelled out her name and she traced the name before tracing the single rose that was carved into the lid to the right of her name. Without taking her eyes off her name she opened it with a tiny key that she kept on her at all times. _

_The inside of the box was by no means plain. It was lined with a dark green silk and in the lid directly underneath the place her name was on on the outside was a picture of Fiona and her parents from the day Fiona had been christened. _

_The slightly faded picture was her most treasured possession and inside the box itself were a few letters that her parents had given her before she had left them for the Black Order. _

_She didn't feel resentment or anger towards the Order, nor at her parents for letting her go so easily, without any kind of fight. It was too long ago and she had long since gotten over her initial fear and anger, well, initial might be an understatement. _

_Fiona picked up the last letter she had opened, it had been sealed in this box for years before she opened it a few months back. One the front of the envelope was the number '18'. It had been the very last sealed letter in the box, until recently. _

_She unfolded it carefully and glanced at the names at the bottom. Both of her parents wished her lots of luck and there was even a childish scrawl from her brother who had been barely two when he had signed this letter. _

_Fiona wondered briefly if her brother even remembered her at all. Surely her parents talked about her with her younger brother. She closed the letter and put it onto one of the piles in the box._

_Then Fiona reached over to her bed and picked up another envelope, it was stiff and perfectly white. It made all the other envelopes look old. She slid out the photographs in this new envelope and thumbed through them carefully trying not to touch them too much. She had all the pictures she wanted and was going to get. Fred, Marie, Renny Epstain, various other exorcists, scientists and nurses at the Branch, even a sketch of Aldea that another exorcist had drawn for her after his death. _

_Fiona closed the envelope again and locked the box, before placing it half heartedly in the small wooden trunk at her feet. She felt extremely nervous about the fact that her luggage was going before she was. She had been told it would be safer this way and she would be unencumbered if she was attacked. However, a small part of her insisted she'd rather die with this box in her hands than see it lost. _

_She looked down and registered that the trunk was very empty, she had no personal possessions after all apart from the box and not a large collection of clothes as she usually travelled. Maybe she should steal a book or two from the library, due to it's size she doubted anyone would notice. _

_But then she closed the lid with a sigh and decided that it could wait until the morning. Her bare room looked even more spartan even though there had been little more in it an hour before. Simply the lack of a few items of clothing that usually hung on the back of the chair or the end of her bed made the room look not only bare, but downright hollow and empty._

"_Hey! Fiona! Are you there?" Someone called through the door. The voice was male and eager. _

"_Yeah, I'm here. Come in." The young man entered and looked around, his eyes lingering on Fiona's trunk for a moment before he turned to face her. He was wearing his uniform, but his coat was open and his straggly hair was damp. She crossed the room and hugged him. He patted her on the head. _

"_I'm going to miss you." She said softly as she pulled away. _

"_Yeah, I'll miss you too." But then his grin was back in place and he ruffled her hair. "Come on to dinner. Everyone finally managed to get together so we can have a farewell party."_

"_I'm not quite gone yet." Fiona smiled, tightening her hold on his hand slightly before letting go._

"_Yes, but considering how most people here barely eat or sleep because of their workload, I think it's best we have it a little early." said Marie, who was leaning against the doorframe._

_She also hugged Fiona before they started walking towards the canteen. _

"_I think, I need to say thank you." Marie said softly as the three walked side by side. Fiona was startled. "What for?"_

"_For saving my life a couple of times. For teaching me a few things. For not just listening but understanding. And for being my... friend." Marie was talking so low now she was whispering and Fiona respected her for it. Marie preferred to be private, a habit that sometimes made her look withdrawn and unsociable. "Especially the last mission."_

_Fiona felt slightly thrown by the things her friend was telling her. "You're welcome." But unable to keep from teasing completely, her smile became a grin. "But do try not to sleep like the dead in future." The girls laughed and Fred joined in. _

_Their hearty laughter echoed through the corridor even after they had long turned the corner._


	2. Chapter 1 Fiona

A/N: First you will all need to listen to me. This is the obligatory note about the ownership of the characters etc. and me either raging about something or fishing for compliments by calling myself fat/ugly/stupid/etc. Before that I want to ask my readers to please tell me what you think about the ability. I tried long and hard to think of the most problematic (but still parasitic) innocence one could have and yes I came up with this one. After that I spent my days and night on how exactly this would even be possible/usable. Plausibility aside (it IS fantasy after all) I hope you can see it in your minds eye as well as I can once you've read this. This part is written a little more harshly with less feeling involved, because from experience I know that adrenaline can often suppress those thoughts and it's all about split second decisions on actions (somehow this makes sense to me...).

So, let's get to number one: The story is written and drawn by Katsura Hoshino. All characters directly from the manga belong to her. The rest belong to me.

Number two (holds up two fingers dramatically NB: this makes typing hard): Please review truthfully!

* * *

><p>1. Fiona<p>

Fiona and Marie arrived on the edge of the village out of breath. They had seen the flames consuming the village miles ago, but they had clung on to hope. Now, it seemed utterly foolish to have believed they'd get there in time.

Without a second thought Fiona rid herself of her cloak and Marie pulled her gun out of the holster on her leg. Following their standard procedure Fiona ran left and Marie right. Fiona's legs ached after running several miles, but anger spurned her now. She turned another corner, slid to a halt, lost her footing and then sprang back around the corner from which she had come.

She had found them. Two Level 1's and a Level 2. She got to her feet quietly and in preparation for the fight, two long ribbons unraveled right out of her skin. They gave off a faint green light and as she turned the corner again she sent them out, capturing and killing one of the Level 1's immediately.

Then she jumped, much higher than a normal human would ever have been able to. She sent out a second ribbon of skin and caught the second Level 1, then spun in mid air and let ribbons out of her legs to wrap themselves around the Level 2.

The Level 1 exploded instantly, but the Level 2 laughed.

"Wrapping me up like a present won't kill me." Fiona landed lightly in front of the Level 2 and judged it properly. It looked like a gigantic spider, except for it's elongated neck on which sat an enormous two-faced head reminiscent of the greek god Janus.

In the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of a shot gun. Marie was also fighting.

"I thought it might make you more presentable." Fiona said, smiling coldly. Her skin began to glow slightly as she whispered. "Level 2, activate." Her skin glowed green and as she made a sharp cutting movement with her arm to sever the ribbons from her legs, there was quiet sound of metal cutting through metal and the spiders neck was cleanly cut into three pieces.

As the head fell, Fiona turned away leaving the strips of her skin behind. The akuma exploded. Her skin was now back it's usual pale colour.

Half an hour later she met up with Marie on the other side of the village.

"Find anything?" She asked.

"Three, and part of a house fell on me. You?" replied Fiona as she used her innocence some more to heal a deep cut on her leg and there was a bandage around her upper arm already.

"One and you know that you're not meant to be doing that. Your innocence can only heal superficial wounds not deep cuts and injuries like that." Marie was looking rather disapprovingly at her partner.

Fiona glared "You're my student, not my lecturer. As the nurses back home like to tell us it's always best to clean and cover any sort of wounds as fast as possible, so they don't get infected." But even with the superficial healing she was capable of, she had to admit her injuries hurt like hell and Fiona could not hide a slight limp nor that she was keeping her left arm as still as possible. Ignoring the pain and shifting her weight to a point that she could think reasonably straight, she continued. "We'll go to the first house we see and ask to use the phone to report then move on."

"Shouldn't we rest a while? We've been going from incident to incident for the past week and we've barely slept." Marie asked, as Fiona took her small back pack, that doubled as a briefcase when turned 90 degrees, off and pulled out another cloak that she wrapped around herself. She pulled up her hood to hide her long red locks. Fiona would sincerely have liked to take a break, but she was too stubborn and they were out of food and almost out of water.

_What was Marie complaining about anyway?_ she thought._ It wasn't like she had an injury._

"If you have the breath to ask that then you have the strength to keep walking." Fiona answered curtly and walked ahead of her student. Marie looked like she'd have liked to complain, but then followed with a loud sigh, pulling up her hood to hide her own chocolate brown hair.

It was two days before they reached the next village and the last day they had had no supplies left at all. Marie was still fine, but Fiona was starting to have a hard time as she needed more energy to keep her body running with her parasitic innocence. Also, on the second day, although Fiona would never admit to it, Marie noticed the older girl was walking slower than her usual brisk stride and even gripped her arm once or twice in pain.

Fiona never said a word though and Marie hadn't expected it, Fiona was not a girl known for complaining, about personal injury anyway.

* * *

><p>Once they reached the village, Fiona instructed Marie to phone North American Headquarters, report and to then return to the inn they were staying at.<p>

Fiona looked after Marie for a moment and then let out a gasp that she hadn't known she'd been holding. Neither her leg nor her arm were injured too badly, but any adrenaline from the short fight had long vanished and the brisk walking had made her leg throb painfully and the pain in her arm was shooting right up to her neck so that now she had an accompanying headache.

After a few minutes of simply standing and enduring the pain in the hope that it would diminish slightly, Fiona started towards the church to ask if anyone had died in the village recently. It wasn't strictly required for exorcists to this, but Fiona preferred to find out about odd deaths that might be linked to akumas, rather than accidentally overlooking one. In fact, these trips to the local priest had probably saved millions of lives. Then, of course, it was what Aldea, her old teacher, had always done.

The priest, true to his church vows, was unwilling to say anything even after some persuasion, so Fiona sighed and pulled her cloak aside to reveal her uniform.

Over her chest the rose cross gleamed and one look at it made the priest tell her that there had been three deaths recently. Two elderly members of the community had died, though it wasn't unexpected. But a teenager had been killed in a freak accident only two days ago. His funeral was scheduled for the next day. Fiona thanked the priest and set off back towards the inn, knowing that there would be more work to be done later. With a sigh she rubbed her temples trying to lessen the throb in her head.

Marie was already at the inn and had also already ordered food. Fiona joined her student and told her about the freak accident and the dead teenager.

The food came and Fiona asked the innkeeper to tell them where to find the family of the boy who had died. The innkeeper, not as suspicious a character as the priest, told them willingly and without further questions, though he looked on with unmasked amazement as Fiona ate through the five course meal on her own, while her partner only ate a single dish. Which was very little especially as they were quite hungry and dehydrated, but unlike Fiona who ate startling amounts most of the time, the younger exorcist ate modestly even on the edge of hunger. Any larger amounts made her sick.

As Fiona continued tucking in Marie continued to watch and finally said "It's so unfair that you can eat so much and still stay so thin." The odd comment made Fiona pause, but she didn't answer. Inwardly she shook her head at the thought that the slim girl in front of her had any concerns at all about her weight.

"We're being recalled by HQ, we're supposed to go back as soon as possible." Marie continued. Fiona barely looked up. "After we're done here." she said. Then she glanced up at Marie's face, there was just the slightest hint of guilt in her eyes. Fiona put down her fork and leant back in her seat, her arms crossed. "You told them that I've been injured." It was not a question and as Marie hesitated she glared until she got a response.

Marie shrugged her shoulders in a grudging assent, pointedly looking away. "You should take care of your body more. Since you're not doing that, I felt I should tell people to whom you listen. You should-" But Fiona stood suddenly. She was angry. But not letting her voice go a single decibel higher than normal she said "Let's go. We'll go around town now asking discreet questions about who's been most distraught about the teenagers death. We'll then talk to that person and if we're not sure wether it's an akuma, we'll attend the funeral tomorrow and find out." Fiona strode out of the inn.

She didn't talk to Marie that afternoon except to issue short and curt instructions. Fiona knew her body much better than Marie did. Of course, she knew that pushing her body while it was injured was everything but ideal. However, it was still better than fainting on the road from hunger. In fact, pushing her body in most situations was harmful, as she was regularly informed by the doctors back at the North American Branch of the Black Order. The strain from her innocence was apparently more than average even for the parasitic type.

The thing that really bothered Fiona though was what she considered a lack of respect from Marie. The report to HQ by Marie felt to her like a lack of trust in Fiona's ability to perform her duty as an exorcist. At that Fiona ground her teeth angrily.

The innocence that gave her skin incredible regenerative abilities, so that she could make ribbons out of her skin and at the next level make it harder than steel was a gift from heaven and a curse from hell at the same time.

Fiona had learned that due to these powers, she could easily heal skin deep wounds on herself and on others. But if the wounds went deeper all she could do was cover them and at least stop any infections, but her injuries took much longer to heal than for the average human.

Fiona rarely got very injured in fights anyway as she took out her enemies from afar, but a house collapsing on her was quite a different story.

However, the whole process of constantly regenerating her skin fatigued her body much faster than other parasitic exorcists, simply because of the size of her innocence. Most parasitic weapons were huge compared to the ordinary limb of the exorcist, but it was still only one or two limbs.

Fiona unclasped her hands and shoved them into the pockets of her cloak. It was most unladylike in this fictional 19th century, but Fiona didn't currently care. Then she stopped for a second and had to smile at her own thoughts, she was much nowadays, but certainly not a lady.

They didn't find out anything worthwhile that afternoon and then decided to go to the funeral the next day. Fiona went into her room to wash thoroughly before getting an evening meal.

* * *

><p>Enjoying the warm water Fiona lent against the inside of the shower and let her hands fall from her hair. She wondered why she was being ordered back to Headquarters. Having previously ignored the thoughts in favour of focusing on her current mission, they bugged her more now that she thought about them. It wasn't that she minded being at the branch, however, she had only just started this mission a few weeks ago. She didn't have to go back to the branch to get her leg and arm treated. Being recalled so soon meant something had happened and she had a very bad feeling about it.<p>

Fiona lifted her arms to resume the washing of her hair. Then she got out of the shower and wrapped her thin form in a gigantic fluffy white towel that was provided. She sat down in a chair and examined the place on her calf that was still causing her pain and was not surprised by the large purplish blotch that told her that just under her skin her blood vessels had been ruptured. She grimaced at the thought.

Next, she experimentally stretched her left arm and surmised for now that it was sprained, so she rummaged through her bag and strapped it up as best she could with her right arm and her teeth.

Then she dried off fully and pulled on her clothes. They were the simple black and white colour of all exorcist's uniform. As her weapon was her skin, her clothes didn't cover much of it, much to Fiona's discomfort. There was a pair of shorts that came barely half way down her thigh, a simple black tank top that left her lower abdomen uncovered and over that a long sleeved jacket with sippers along the sleeves that again left her navel and lower back free. Her jacket was straight cut rather than tight so she could move in it easier and had a hood. Over her heart glinted the silver emblem of the Black Order, the rose cross.

Lastly, she pulled on long socks and a pair of simple black shoes. As she was about to leave the room, though, her eyes fell on her black cloak. She reached for it hesitantly, knowing she had to wear it if she went out, even though she hated it.

She wanted to go out though, so she unwillingly put on the cloak. Her mind still fought as her instinct not to draw attention to herself and her simple dislike of this particular dress confronted each other. Finally, her stomach decided for her and she pulled it on. She tied it at her neck and buttoned it down to around her waist with the hidden clasps, so that it was tight around her upper body and swirling from the hips down. To all the world she looked like an ordinary woman.

Fiona knocked on the connecting door between her room and Marie's. Marie yelled something unintelligible. Fiona assumed she had permission to enter and did so.

Marie was just sitting on the bed reading and continued as Fiona came across. She looked up only when Fiona stood in the light and her shadow fell across the book Marie was reading.

Irritated by a strand of damp hair clinging to her lashes, Fiona brushed it out of her face before saying politely "I'm going down to eat. Care to join me?"

"Thank you, but no. I'm not hungry and want to finish this."

"Don't loose yourself in it. Stay alert and don't let your guard down." Fiona turned and left the room and then her own, locking the door securely behind her.

She ordered a large meal once more, however, it was modest compared to the meal she had had for lunch.

She drew curious looks from the her fellow customers. She could tell that travellers were rare and the inn functioned more as a village pub than as a place for people to stay. Before long some curious people had gathered around her. Or rather one rather interested youth, and a friend of his, who left when another girl entered.

The boy was maybe a year or two older than herself and she didn't recognise him from the afternoon. His hair was short and very straight so it stuck straight up at his hairline. It was a deep chocolate brown, the same colour as his eyes. It was odd they way they matched so perfectly, it didn't happen often.

He was very polite and very complimenting, so much Fiona felt herself blushing like a little girl even though she answered most of the questions about the reason for her travels with lies. Also she knew that she was using him, which almost pained her as he seemed genuinely interested. As an exorcist she could find love within the order and make sure her personal life was well separated from her professional one or leave it.

She asked some questions of her own to keep up the conversation as long as possible, but the end was inevitable. It was far past midnight before she pulled her hand gently away from the boy's and took her leave. Exhausted, she went up to her room, her arm and her leg painful and throbbing once more.

Fiona got up the steps and unlocked her door quietly. She noticed the light was off in Marie's room and then got ready for bed herself without turning the light on.

Luckily.

If it hadn't been dark, she might not have noticed that the room grew suddenly darker, as even the light of the moon was blocked out. Her head whipped around on instinct and she fixed her gaze on the window.

A large shape had moved in front of the window. Instead of running or at least ducking behind the desk, she threw up her arms, activating the second level of her innocence and threads of her skin started to unravel themselves from her arms, legs and torso. They knitted together in front of her forming a greenly glowing square shield, just before the first bullets crashed through the window.

Fiona severed the shield after forming a handle so she could hold it. She pushed it forward towards the window, then ducked out quickly from behind it and threw herself out of the other window. She was only on the first floor and would have landed completely smoothly had it not been for the injuries she had sustained two days earlier. However, she had to pick herself up painfully after she landed uncleanly on the rough ground losing a few seconds of her usually flawless move. Immediately, she jumped aside as the akuma lumbered around slowly to face her. The next second she had pierced the first one, when she noticed that there were three more.

With her superhuman strength and flexibility, she easily jumped up onto one of them and ripped it apart with her ribbons. Before sending out a flesh coloured ribbon each to finish the last two.

It was over in less than five minutes.

But Fiona was wary now, as she returned to her room in the inn. She roused Marie who had apparently noticed nothing. Fiona put her on night watch and told a now extremely sheepish looking Marie to rouse her in five hours.

She herself fell asleep as soon as she hit the covers of Marie's bed. True to her orders, Marie woke Fiona early. They left as soon as they had given instructions to send the bill for the windows and the rooms to the black order.

As of then they took up vigil at the graveyard. Hidden and in positions that were easily defendable. Rather than wasting the energy, Fiona took the shield she had made hours before and set it in front of Marie when she took up her position. But sadly Marie couldn't lift it, as it was so heavy and not her own innocence.

No one came before the funeral and both of them had about an hour of more sleep before it started. Once it started Fiona moved onto the roof of a mausoleum, so that she had a clear view of the area.

But nothing happened.

And after the attack earlier, Fiona had not really expected it. Especially as she saw that two were missing from the number of expected funeral guests who had been close to the dead teenager.

Nothing more out of the ordinary happened and after the funeral the two exorcists left the town. It took them about a day to reach the next town with a train station. From there Fiona estimated it would take about four day to get back to home.


	3. Chapter 2 Talking about her Vacation

A/N: This fanfiction is not for profit and all characters belong to Kastura Hoshino or myself.

Honestly, I thought I'd already posted this one (well, this is awkward)

So, I might actually update twice this week as I've finally managed to chew myself through my math course and am awake enough to write proper english (although I probably slipped in some hiberno english into the next chapters, which I'm already working, I'll try to sort that out before publishing it though...)

* * *

><p>2. Talking about her vacation<p>

Fiona jumped up at the light pressure on her shoulder. Even though she had just woken she looked around alertly at her surroundings, before noticing that she had knocked Marie down. "Oh, sorry." She pulled Marie to her feet and then fell back into her own seat.

"I just confirmed our ride from the station to the branch." Characteristically, Marie pushed her finger up the bridge of her nose, even though she no longer wore glasses.

Fiona picked up the use of the word 'branch' rather than home.

"How long have you been on missions with me?" Fiona asked politely. With her arms still crossed Marie said. "About a year, but with all the visits back to the branch, I suppose about 10 months."

"Do you feel comfortable doing this job by now?"

"Yes, I think I've gotten used to it." The slight bitter edge to her voice had disappeared.

"I have to say you've been lucky though. For me this year's been a vacation." Fiona looked out of the window. She smiled as she remembered her missions with Marie, who she was sure would make an excellent exorcist in a few years. Maybe she would even be training someone herself before long.

"A vacation?" Marie looked as if she would have used a number of other words.

"Well, a whole year has gone by without so much as seeing a corner of a Level 3. And the Level 2s were occasional at best." Fiona studied Marie carefully. "There will be a time when you'll look back at this year and it will seem to have been easy." Marie's face showed disbelief at that, but Fiona couldn't detect even a hint of fear for what was to come. "But I do suggest you try becoming a light sleeper, so you notice an akuma when it's right outside your window." Fiona smiled, showing that she was not angry.

"Yes, sorry about that. This is the second time, isn't it?" Marie smiled, embarrassed.

"The last time you hadn't slept in a few days, but still, train yourself to sleep for short periods, about 3 to 4 hours. It will come with time." Fiona assured.

"Easy for you to say, you were trained at a much younger age." Marie sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had found my innocence and the order sooner."

Fiona thought about this. "Well, there are disadvantages and advantages. Family, as an example, you still remember your family and worry about them, in the full knowledge that you will probably never see them again. On the other hand you had more time with them. I barely remember them, were it not for my photo of them, I'd have forgotten them completely by now. But for me my family is now comprised of exorcists and scientists. You have still to learn to appreciate them and get to know them properly."

"I just think I'd be better prepared, if I had started earlier. Here we are, two girls with an age difference of two years, but a difference of -" She thought for a moment. "eleven in experience."

Fiona knew no answer to this question. So she glanced out of the window. "We're nearly home." She stood up to take her small backpack that doubled as a briefcase from the rack running along the wall of the train above their heads and placed it beside her instead.

"Even you can't wait to sleep in your own bed once in a while, can you?" Marie accepted the change in subject.

"It's not about the bed, it's about seeing some familiar faces every now and again. I love travelling, seeing new places and so on, but I have to admit it gets topped by beating up my friends in sparring sessions." Fiona giggled in some private joke. Marie looked on in horror.

"That's true? Those ridiculous sparring sessions you have with some of the others." Marie shook her head. "I don't understand you at all."

"For a gunner it's probably hard to understand, but we swordsmen love a good workout."

"But you're not a swordsman. Not even a swordswoman."

"I'll make sure you get to watch me when I try to beat Fred."

"Who's Fred?" Marie had not heard of an exorcist named Fred before.

"You'll see, he should be home. Renny told me he was scheduled to arrive shortly after we left a few weeks ago. I haven't seen him in over two years though. He's probably changed a lot."

The train was starting to slow. Fiona peered out of the window trying to see the platform. She could just about make out someone standing there. Smiling again she flung her bag onto her back and left the compartment, Marie following behind.

As expected it was one of the order members who waited for them on the platform.

"Hey, Al! I didn't get to see you last time I was back. How are things?" Fiona gave him a tight hug.

The tall, burly man was a member of the order, but at an administrative level. His hair was dark and short, which left his face looking even more rugged. "I'm great." He drawled with his american accent. "You've let your hair grow out again. It really suits you."

"And while that little bit of beard makes you look very handsome and clever-looking, I have told you that not all girls like kissing bristles." Marie blushed as Fiona said this. But the latter and 'Al' just roared with laughter.

Fiona reached back and slipped a hand into Marie's. "Come on! You remember Al, right?"

Marie curtsied and bowed her head slightly. "Mr. Nash, it is a pleasure to meet you again."

With a small smile Al then took her hand and bent to kiss it. "Likewise." But then he ruffled her hair and said "Next time you can call me Al, just like Fiona." Then he looked at the elder of the two girls. "She's got better manners than you when you came to us, Fiona."

Fiona laughed. "I was six years old back then." She smiled, then she ran of towards the end of the train platform and over to the carriage.

"I'll drive." She yelled back and opened her dress-like cloak in a ripping motion and threw it up into the driver's seat. Then she swung herself up after it.

She took a tight hold of the reins and clucked her tongue so that the two horses stopped grassing. Fiona didn't particularly like driving, but she wanted to see the Branch first and the driver's position was a perfect outlook.

The carriage tilted slightly as first Marie and then after a moments hesitation Al got in the back. Naturally laid back, he was one of the only people who would let Fiona drive the carriage home, but sometimes he would pause just to consider if it was worth getting into trouble over.

As the carriage trundled over the stone ground and the wind blew Fiona hair around a bit her thoughts gradually returned to the question she had been pondering about for a few days now. Why was she being recalled?

The North American Branch was housed in a pyramid of black stone. It lay in a dip that had been eroded over centuries. The surrounding pillars and platforms of solid stone that had been left made it look smaller than it was was, but in a way it made the Branch more impressive. The guardian columns of the Branch blended perfectly into the surroundings. The path down to the entrance was confusing, but finding her way was one of Fiona's strengths and as she directed the carriage past the guard posts, she smiled and waved.

Then finally she was at the main entrance and she jumped down. "Marie, we're finally home. Al, please take my luggage up to my room." She threw her cloak into his arms, which were already holding her bag.

"Good evening, Ms. Kennedy, Ms. Bernard."

"How are you, Ms. Kennedy? Hello, Ms. Bernard." said the guards as Fiona passed through the double doors set into the pyramid followed by a rather nervous Marie. "Good evening, I'm fine. What happened to that promotion you were going to get before I returned, John?" Fiona answered.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you back so soon, Ms. Kennedy, but I'm working on it."

"Good luck!" Fiona called back. Then she glanced at Marie. "Really, Marie, you're acting like were going into the house of the Noah Clan. This is home, it doesn't bite." As they walked through the empty corridors.

"We have to report to her now, don't we?" Marie asked, her shoulder twitching in some kind of discomfort.

"Yes, we have to go to Renny. Epstain, to you." She glanced at her watch. "Maybe we can move it to tomorrow, though, as it's so late or should I say early." Fiona stretched, even here in the inner part of the branch there were very few people, which was usually full at most times. But then a very sweet voice piped up and Fiona froze.

"Ms. Kennedy. You're here earlier than expected. Please, come through to Ms. Epstain immediately. Surely you want to give her your report immediately." The rather neatly dressed Chief Assistant was smiling in the sweet way that would have shivers running down your back. She may not be an exorcist, but she was not someone you wanted to anger.

"Yes, Ma'am. I was just on my way to see her, but I think Marie can already go to bed. I can make the report on my own." Fiona bowed and hurried off towards the Epstain office.

Marie dashed of in the direction of her room.

Fiona knocked on the door to Renny Epstain's office minutes later, secretly hoping that the head of the branch had retired. But a voice that sounded tired and harsh at the same time ordered her inside.

"Morning, Renny."

"Morning? It's barely past midnight." Renny looked up from her work.

"It's half past two in the morning. If it's all the same to you, I would like to get a few hours sleep, then report." Fiona said, respectfully.

"But it's not all the same to me, tomorrow or later today, it will be another few hours for your brain to forget more facts from your mission. So, please have a seat. I'll get something to drink and you can start." Without missing a beat she yelled "A coffee for me and some black tea for Ms. Kennedy!"

The scary assistant brought them within seconds, which told Fiona that she had already prepared the drinks beforehand. Fiona started to talk. She started filling in her mission papers at the same time, rather than waiting till after she had finished.

After about an hour they were done.

"You have a medical scheduled in the morning, you will then report to me in the late afternoon, once the results are in."

"A medical, Renny? May I ask what for?" Fiona's brow creased.

"No special reason, simply routine examination." The branch head checked her watch. "Well, that was shorter than usual. Give the reports to Marie Bernard, so she can sign them as well. You can go, Fiona."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Fiona left.

"Don't call me that! It makes me sound old!" Renny called back.

"Yes, yes. Good night!" Fiona yawned widely and headed towards her room. She was barely able to change into her night clothes and get into her bed before she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>But even so she was awake just after seven. Dressed in her uniform she knocked on Marie's room, which was two floors below hers.<p>

"Go away, Fiona. It's the crack of dawn." Marie grumbled back drowsily after a few minutes of continued knocking.

"Marie, you don't have a window, now get up. I'm going to have breakfast and when I'm finished these papers had better be signed. You're not the one who was up half the night filling them in." Fiona cracked open the door, dumped the papers on the floor and then closed the door quietly.

"You pamper her too much."

"You smoke too much." Fiona walked away from Ted, who she easily identified by the smell and by the what he had said. He was an average size man and his long black robes that were his uniform were reminiscent of his old profession. His skin was quite dark and his head was completely shaved. Wherever he was a cloud of smoke followed him everywhere.

"My innocence is a box of matches. If I didn't smoke I might never have found it." Ted followed Fiona in the direction of the canteen. "Are you going to be here long? I'm leaving again tomorrow, apparently there's an unusually large group of Akuma gathering." He asked, as they walked.

"I don't know. I was recalled rather unexpectedly after only three weeks back at work. Renny told me she'd brief me on my new mission this afternoon. I'm also meant to take a trip to medical in the morning so she can make sure I'm running as smoothly as usual."

"Have you ever not run smoothly? You always seem absolutely perfect at managing your innocence." They had arrived.

Fiona and Ted ordered before Fiona answered. "Let's just say that wasn't always so. I was very young when I first used my innocence. It wasn't very good for my body and it still isn't, but I have been able to adjust."

"All exorcists have a bad background and most of them have had problems with their innocence at some point. I suppose it's part of the test of the innocence." Ted and Fiona settled at a table.

"Do you really believe that the innocence can test you?" Fiona asked back.

"It's odd that you would ask that, if you've obviously been tested by God himself."

"Sometimes I forget that you were a priest before coming here." Fiona looked at the former cleric, that was smoking even while eating his breakfast and thought about what he had said. Even after all these years she still couldn't really believe that innocence was more than a substance, but that it actually had a mind of it's own.

Fiona had her own theory. A theory that people who had the right mutation in their DNA could be hosts to the innocence or be able to use it effectively. She had never told anyone her theory, but she felt that this theory did not make less sense than an inanimate substance having the brain to select it's hosts.

She smiled to herself, her mother would have liked to hear her theory Fiona was sure of it. But Fiona didn't even know if her parents where still alive, nor did she have any clue where they might be as their jobs kept them travelling.

"I see you have something to think about. I might see you later." Ted rose, bowed his head slightly and then left.

Fiona ate her large breakfast slowly. She mused a little bit more about her theory on innocence and decided that in the free time she would have after her medical she would study a little in the library.

When she returned to Marie's quarters she found the girl dressed and bent over the paper work Fiona had left. "You know what, Marie. You finish that up and just get it down to Renny as soon as possible. She said she wanted to see you anyway. I'll go get my medical done."

"Mmhhh." Marie answered.

"Marie." Fiona's voice was warning.

"Yes, Fiona. I will get this done and then go see Epstain."

"Better." Fiona left again.


	4. Chapter 3 Old tradition

3. An old tradition between friends, also called 'Getting your ass kicked'.

It was time for the stupid medical. The medical staff were among the few people at the North American Branch that Fiona positively hated. Well, when they were giving her a check up anyway.

For one thing this particular branch didn't have a female doctor and Fiona always felt a little uncomfortable because of this. Furthermore, Fiona didn't feel very comfortable with having to be almost completely nude for some of the tests.

It was the usual. The doctor checked her height, weight, heart rate, breathing, then he took a blood and urine sample and sent them to the lab. He tested Fiona's eyes, ears and had a look down her throat. Then he examined her abdomen by touch to check her liver and her bowels. He tested her reflexes and then examined her skin for signs of problems with Fiona's innocence.

Then he asked about recent injuries and he had another look at Fiona's arm and leg where she'd been injured a little more than a week ago.

The part after the actual medical was also extremely annoying, as there were always a series of questions to check on the mental health of the exorcists and a talk with a professional psychiatrist to get a second opinion.

The whole process took about three hours.

It was always very exhausting, too. Not physically, even though there was a running test, but somehow mentally.

Fiona was finished just before noon and even though she had planned to go to the library she went to the sparring area, where she found a pleasant surprise waiting for her.

There were only two people there. A woman in her forties who was doing some gymnastics in a corner and a man in his early twenties with a mop of brown hair that was always just long enough to fall into his eyes, (which in Fiona's opinion was mysteriously attractive) who was standing at the weights considering them in a rather critical manner.

"Fred, you're here." Fiona ran towards him. Fred instantly looked up a broad grin on his face. He caught her up and gave her a long, bone crushing hug. "I've missed you." Fiona tightened her grip, wishing the moment to last.

"It's been so long. I've missed you, too. How have you been?" He held her at arms length to have a good look at her. "You let your hair grow out. It's better that long. Otherwise you have hardly changed." Not true, Fiona felt that certain areas of her anatomy had become more pronounced and for some reason she really hoped that Fred would notice them. But he seemed not to.

"Thank you. Yeah, I haven't grown at all since the last time we met. I've been okay, busy with travelling and killing akuma, the usual. I have my own apprentice now, you know."

"After only twelve years, that's impressive." Fred took Fiona's hand and led her over to the sparring area.

"Well, it was because no one else happened to be around and then it somehow happened that Marie and I actually work pretty well together. But how are you? Something interesting must have happened over the past two years." Fiona grabbed a wooden sword off the wall of training weapons. Fred copied her. "Well, nothing special really, killing akumas. I've mostly been travelling on my own." The two of them circled around each other slightly. Fiona experimentally twirled the sword.

"Well, shall we now begin our little tradition?"

"By all means." Fred still had a grin on his face. "Let's see where we end up this time."

"Just hopefully not in the kitchen again." Fiona lunged and then immediately moved swiftly to the one side. Fred moved seamlessly to parry both of her attacks before launching his own series of jabs and slashes. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. I love our little reunion tradition." Fred said, as he was forced back as Fiona blocked his attack and retaliated. "I'm afraid this one will be a little shorter than usual -" Fiona was forced to dive to the ground and roll out of the way. "- I just had my physical, so I was running for half an hour."

With the strength only exorcists had Fiona jumped clean over Fred, twisting in the air to slash at his back. But he evaded the attack. "Well, I didn't sleep last night so it makes us even." He charged at her. "I was working on the weights for a while as well."

They continued to exchange blows for several minutes. By this time they had already moved out into the corridor. "I'm sorry, I missed your last two birthdays, by the way." Fred said apologetically.

"Yeah, me too. There was no one to have a cake fight with."

"How old are you going to be this summer?"

"19." Fiona answered shortly as she dropped to the ground and swept Fred's legs out from underneath him.

"Oh, so just one year till your 20? Do you remember our agreement?" This stopped Fiona for just long enough that she couldn't parry Fred's attack and she was forced to dodge through an open doorway. "Surely, you don't mean the one we made when I was 14."

"I mean exactly that one." Fred followed her through and Fiona ran up a few steps of the stairwell they had just entered. "Do you still want to do it?" She asked as she rained attacks down on him from her higher position. "Yes, if you still do." Fiona blushed scarlet and her sword was knocked out of her hand and up the stairs. Fred jumped up the stairs and gained the higher ground. But he had stepped on Fiona's sword. She pulled it out, unsteadying him and with a quick jab managed to knock him over.

"Who knows if we'll see each other in a year and a few months. But yeah, I'm still up for it."

Fiona ran up another flight of stairs and out into the next corridor. They were now on the bottommost of the floors designated for quarters.

"How about we make a bet?" Fred whirled the sword above his head and brought it swishing down. Fiona ducked and aimed for his stomach, but missed.

"On the outcome of the match?" Fiona was starting to pant.

"Yeah. If I win we change the time of the bargain to now and get it over with." Fred charged forward.

"And if I win?" Fiona dodged again and forced her wooden sword through one of her belt loops. Then she turned and ran along the corridors so she could quickly tie up her hair. She could have done it faster using her innocence, but that was against the rules of the game Fred and she played.

"You get to pick the date." Fred was also huffing now as he chased after. "So, even never?" Fiona asked and turned around abruptly ready to attack, but the corridor was empty and her sword swished through nothingness.

"Yes, but then I'll just have to keep making bets until I win." Fred's voice echoed slightly in the empty corridor. Fiona moved slowly back down the corridor trying to see which doorways were open.

Then someone came along behind her. One of the scientists. She looked curiously at Fiona with the wooden sword in her hands and sweating, but walked past without comment. Fiona watched attentively, surely Fred would act when someone approached his hiding place.

"Well, hello there." The voice came from behind Fiona. She turned slowly. Fred was pointing his sword at her. It was so close to her nose that she could smell the wood. Fiona moved fluidly and instinctively. She kicked him in his shoulder, which unsteadied him enough to miss. "You haven't won quite yet."

"You sure?" He jumped at her, keeping his sword safely out of the way as not to injure her. He knocked Fiona over and out into the corridor again. But Fiona managed to free herself, pull him down to the ground and point her own sword down at him. "Yes."

But then he grabbed the sword and pulled sharply away, flinging Fiona aside and she hit the wall. "Sorry." He said as he got up.

The fight continued more vigorously now, as both of them fought to win and were less scared of hurting each other now. The blur of motion lead them through corridors and into the science department. Here, they were swiftly kicked out by the head scientist by him throwing his stationary at them until they ran out in a temporary truce with their arms over their heads. They proceeded through more of the building and then they met Marie.

"Fiona! What are you doing? Your lip's bleeding." Marie yelled in surprise.

"If you have a tissue, Marie, I would be thankful. Fred, this is my apprentice, Marie. Marie, this is Fred." Fiona gaspingly introduced them as fast as possible and Fred spent an even shorter amount of time shaking Marie's hand. "Pleased to meet you. Got to go." He gasped, then followed Fiona, who had used the few seconds to put some distance between the two.

Fred then drew back his arm and threw his sword. It tangled in Fiona's legs and she fell. Fiona gasped and struggled to get to her feet. Fred walked slowly over to her then lent against the wall, panting. "Say it." he puffed.

"No way."

Fred kneeled beside her, put a hand on her back force her back onto the ground and repeated "Say it."

Fiona gazed into his eyes and sighed. She looked away. She pounded her fists against the floor frustratedly, but huffed "Urgh, fine. You win."

Fred slumped to the ground beside her. "Okay. Before we get to our bargain, I think lunch would be appropriate."

"Agreed, but let's just lie here for a minute or so longer." Fiona rolled over and whipped sweat off her face. "And a shower would be nice as well." Fred handed Fiona a tissue so she could wipe the blood off her lip. Fiona sat up painfully, now that she had stopped fighting, aches developed all over her body.

"That was harder than last time. You've become stronger." Fred continued.

"Maybe a little, I don't get tired as quickly. You still managed to beat me though." Fiona took a long steadying breath, trying to slow her heartbeat. "So, our score is still zero to about a hundred. I think we may have set a new record with the length of that match, though." She rolled onto her back. "Marie, would you help me up, please?"

Marie, who had been watching the scene develop, stuck out her hand and pulled Fiona to her feet. Fiona in turn pulled Fred to his feet.

"I think we have to ban kicks to the shoulder, though, that really hurt." He complained. "Well, then we'd have to ban us from using swords for throwing and grabbing on to any part of it that isn't the hilt." Fiona retorted. She and Fred started to drag themselves towards the canteen for a late lunch.

"Or we could just leave things like they are?"

"Yes, we should leave the rules the way they are." They asked for their meals and gulped down some water as they waited.

"I wish we could fight with our innocence." Fred said almost wistfully. "I do wonder who would have the upper hand there. Me with my lance or you with your skin."

"Well, once I've pulled the lance out of your hand it should all be rather simple."

"Yes, but you'd have to use your level 2 innocence, at least, to guard against attacks. And as a man I have superior strength." Fred almost dropped his tray as he attempted to flex. Fiona laughed. "I, however, am obviously more intelligent."

They sat down laughing and talked about their travels.

"I was a bit surprised at Marie, by the way." Fred suddenly mentioned. "She's a very quiet girl, she didn't say anything to me at all and then she slipped away."

"She seems to only talk to me. She's very shy, I think."

"Shy? From what I saw, unsociable would be a better term."

"I gather she's been through a lot. She's not comfortable being open to people about it."

"I also noticed that she pretty much told you off." Fred stuffed another forkful into his mouth and then grinned.

"Urgh, Fred, did I really need to see that? And yes, she annoys me sometimes She has a kind of motherly streak in her." Fiona carefully dabbed at her mouth with a napkin before moving on to her main dish.

"I'm glad I have Marie for company, though. It was rather lonely wandering around on my own. I missed going on missions with you and Aldea." Fiona had spoken without thinking.

Fred froze for the briefest moment at her words, but with a slight shrug he answered. "Yeah. I miss those, too. It's sad that we can't tell him how were doing."

Fiona put down her fork. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, no one blames you." Fred said offhandedly, as if he wanted to change the subject.

"I do." Fiona pushed her meal away. Then she stood up, but Fred stopped her by speaking. "Why can we still not talk about this like two adults? We have to talk about it."

"What is there to discuss?" Fiona turned away.

This time Fred grabbed her arm. "Listen to me." He hissed. "I'm no psychologist, but if you don't deal with it, it's going to kick you in the butt some day."

"Shut up, Fred!" Fiona wrenched her arm from his grip and stalked away.

"We still need to settle our bet." Fred called after her.

"We'll do it this evening." Fiona strode in the direction of the library.

If Fiona truly had had a home since she had left her parents and entered the order, then it was not her quarters, but the library. Her mother had been a scientist and had therefore kept a wide collection of books on biology and chemistry in the house library. The library in the North American Branch was not well stocked in those subjects, (Fiona suspected the books had simply been borrowed by the scientists and never returned.) but there was a complete set of 16 volumes of a scientific dictionary that Fiona liked perusing. But today it wasn't working, she put down the third volume of the set and went over to scan the shelf for another book that would interest her. She settled on a book on Nomadic Architecture. But not even the pictures, never mind the text, concerning the tents couldn't hold her interest today.

Her mind insisted on straying back to her slip of the tongue at lunch. She wondered briefly what the psychiatrist would say if he had heard her. Would he assume that Fiona was still as mentally unstable as she had been shortly after the incident? Or would he say that it was healthy that it had cropped up in conversation? He had advised Fiona of the same thing that Fred had just told her. Talk about it. Become comfortable with it. Accept it. Fiona grimaced, she could as easily accept the fact that she'd killed someone as chop of her own head.

Fiona read another half page on tents before her mind wandered again. This time it was not her old teacher who intruded on her thoughts, but again the question of her summoning back to the order and an immediate medical and psychological check up that, now that she thought about it, was barely a half year since her last one. Surely annual medical check ups should be annual not semi annual.

Also there was a rather unusually large amount of exorcists gathered in the Branch at the time.

Fiona got up and wandered aimlessly through the corridors, she estimated she still had a good two hours before she had to report to Renny Epstain. Not wanting to particularly speak to anyone she wandered down to the lower floors of the pyramid shaped building. There was nothing down there apart from some old equipment of past experiments. Fiona was not allowed into those chambers, but she could wander the surrounding corridors that would hopefully be devoid of even the ever present scientists.

She stepped forward and then pirouetted once around. But Fiona could only do a few ball room dances and a few ballet steps that were probably very flawed and after a chassé to the side she sat down against one of the walls.

She let her mind wander. Unsurprisingly, it landed on the topics that were bothering her. She closed her mind to those two topics and thought about innocence. To her it was the greatest curio in life. She had a lot of problems with it at first, but nowadays it usually worked well.

Fiona stretched out her hand in front of her and focused her thoughts. The spaces between her fingers closed up and became webbed. She'd have to remember that for the next time she swam.

Then she sensed a kind of presence.

She looked around. It was completely silent. She shook her head. Fiona returned to looking at her hands. She willed the skin between her fingers to sever and it detached itself.

She moved so she sat cross legged and closed her eyes. Breathing in slowly and deeply, then she held out her left hand, palm up. She concentrated on the image of a single flower, a daisy. Holding the image clearly in her mind, she felt as the innocence in the palm of her hand activated at her will.

Fiona slowly opened her eyes and was disappointed. What she held in her hand looked more like a spiky kind of palm tree than a graceful daisy. Her insides shrivelled a little in shame.

Again she was shaken from her preoccupation by an odd kind of presence, she stood up this time. She could neither hear, see or smell anything, but it felt like there was someone quite close. She stood stock still, listening and wary.

Seconds lengthened into minutes, but still nothing happened. Suddenly Fiona laughed out loud at herself. It was ridiculous, she was the only one down here and if there was someone else they were probably only looking for solitude, like herself.

She'd only spent about half an hour where she was, but she decided to go back up to her room rather than stay. She took the stairs, even though she knew it would take about 20 minutes to return to her quarters that way.

"Fiona, hey! Fiona!" Marie knocked on Fiona's door rather harder than was necessary. "What is it?" Fiona asked coming up behind her.

"Ms. Epstain wants to see you now." Marie was looking curiously at the door to Fiona's room. "I'm on my way." Fiona said, still watching her apprentice amusedly.

"Okay." Marie turned around. "Hey! How did you-" She glared, then blushed in embarrassment.

With a small smirk Fiona hurried off towards the head's office.

"Hello, Renny. May I come in?" Fiona knocked softly on the door frame. Renny was standing over at the window. The head of the branch looked up with her usual slightly grim on her face. "Of course, sit down."

"So, I suppose you'll tell me now, why I was recalled and given an unnecessary medical?" Fiona asked without preamble.

"First, let me go over your results." She shuffled through the a folder on her desk to the last few pages. "You seem to be on excellent form both physically and mentally. You leg and arm are both fine. Your innocence seems to be in good shape as well. Excellent."

"Thanks you, Ma'am. Renny." Fiona corrected herself.

"You have developed remarkably Fiona. I have been able to watch you grow and learn over twelve years now and you seem almost like a daughter. You certainly came with all the trouble only a child can cause."

"Umm, thank you. I suppose." Fiona was confused. Renny was not usually a sentimental person.

"It makes the next thing I have to say all the harder." Fiona was taken aback, that didn't sound promising at all. "We're sending you to Europe, Ms. Kennedy."

"Europe, Renny?"

"Yes."

"Oh." The sound hung in the air between them. It was all Fiona felt capable of saying. She wasn't quite sure what to say. She was a little surprised, but otherwise she felt nothing.

"Well, I was expecting a little more than 'oh'." Renny sounded disappointed.

"Well, I'm not sure what I'm meant to say. It's a little unexpected, I guess. I didn't know the North American Branch sent people to Europe."

"Yes, it is rather unusual. People aren't often sent to the old world."

"Am I going alone?" Fiona asked, as she could think of nothing else to say.

"I'll have someone accompany you to the harbour, just in case. For the crossing you'll be on your own." Renny looked at Fiona thoughtfully. "Don't you want to know why, Fiona?"

"No. Well, yes. Is there a specific reason?"

"As to why we're sending someone over there, yes. They're running a little short on exorcists and they have more akuma activity there than here. As to why we picked you." She paused for just a second, as if she was making a decision. "No. You're a very promising exorcist, that's all."

"When will I be leaving?"

"In 12 days." Renny looked at Fiona intently. "Try to familiarise yourself with Europe's geography." Fiona note the tone of dismissal and stood up.

"I used to live there, I'll be alright." Fiona made for the door, but then paused. "What of Marie, Renny?"

"Marie will be assigned to another exorcist and continue her training."

"I see."

"You will be back in my office in three days for more details." But Fiona barely heard her.

A/N: Yes, another little word from me. I hope I got the fight scene down well, because it was meant to reflect the words and feelings of my two little characters. I know at least one person who would tell me I'm putting too much effort into something that is virtually unimportant.

ALSO, my course is quite heavy on the workload, so I'm not sure when I'll get another chapter out. I'm trying to keep a buffer of a few chapters and right now that is pretty much used up, so the next one might be a little longer.


	5. Chapter 4 The Bet

A/N: I don't remember how often I rewrote this scene, each with a different amount of tears and metaphors and swearing. I thoroughly hate it, but I thought this was an easier way of explaining why Fiona won't become romantically involved with anyone soon. Apart from this romance has not been planned sorry, but I might always slip up on that resolution.

On another note, I'm taking the names from the -man wiki site, because that's the most official versions we have and in the translated mangas the spelling of names sometimes changes, so I'll stick with the wiki.

4. The Bet

Fiona wandered to her room quietly and oddly aware of everything around her. It felt as if she was seeing the branch in a new light now that she was leaving it. Time seemed slower, it seemed to take ages to reach just her quarters. She found Fred waiting inside.

Her insides in turmoil she simply stood in her own doorway, looking at her best friend, her first best friend, her first crush and the one she would regret leaving behind the most.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her breath hitching.

Uncertainly, Fred said "I'm here to collect my winnings." Fiona's stomach barely twinged at the implication, but then he dropped his grin completely and asked "Are you okay?"

Fiona was struggling to control herself, but with every hitching breath her lips trembled, her sight blurred and the pain in her chest increased. She turned to the right, where there hung a mirror and glared at herself.

"What happened, Fiona?" He attempted to turn her around with an imperious hand on her shoulder, but she held up a shaking hand and continued staring at herself loathingly. After a minute or so she finally looked at him. Her wonderful, silly Fred. He almost made her cry, simply standing there. But she held her tears back fiercely and with a cracking voice said. "I'm being sent to Europe."

Saying it gave Fiona's floodgates the last straw. Her knees buckled at the same time the tears fell from her eyes, conveying one message to the world around her.

_I don't want to leave._

Fred caught her up and pulled her onto his lap as he sat back down in the rooms only chair. Wordlessly he put his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin. Then for good measure put the box of tissues from the desk in her lap. Had she been paying attention, the girl in his arms would usually have blushed scarlet and for good measure fled the room in embarrassment at the prolonged closeness.

After the rivulets became more occasional tears and the wails reduced to intermittent hiccups, Fred hesitantly asked "When are you going?"

"About two weeks." Fiona sniffed.

"That's shorter than I reckoned. A lot shorter." He murmured.

"What?" The girl tried to look up at his face.

"Nothing." He smiled softly. "Are you feeling better?"

"No, not really." she brushed the strands of hair that had been plastered to her face back.

"What's the value of π?"

"3.1415926-"

"Right, stop." Fred grinned and held up a hand. Fiona leaned away from him so she could look at the grin on his face.

"Why?"

"I was just checking if you were okay. You can't think when you're upset." The statement made her wonder if the comment was about her or people in general. Lamely, she answered "Oh."

"Anyway, Fiona, do you remember a girl of 14 asking a guy of 16 for a kiss?"

Suddenly feeling much too hot, she turned away before admitting "Yes." Hurriedly, she tried to remedy her embarrassment by saying "I was tipsy, though."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you were as drunk as me. Those days were rough on us."

"Thankfully, the order turned a blind eye."

"They don't have the freedom to kick out exorcists and they've secured the alcohol a little better since that night."

Fiona laughed. "I forgot we stole it here, but then again they can't complain. I haven't touched a drop of the stuff since."

"Really? I've-" he paused. "indulged, once or twice."

"Men." Fiona sighed in mock exasperation.

"Oi." Fred flicked her on the forehead. "You asked me for the kiss."

"You accepted a request from a _drunken_ girl." She emphasised again.

He pulled her closer until their foreheads touched. "Point is that it seems time has run out."

Then he closed the last of the distance that had been between them.

The kiss was soft, tentative even.

It was timeless, yet much too short when it was over. Breathing heavier they returned to touching foreheads.

There was nothing to say. They didn't have to. There was no way of expressing that it had felt right. Fiona wallowed in the feeling with her eyes closed. Only opening them when she felt Fred pull her into a tight hug.

She responded in kind, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I should have asked earlier." Fred said softly.

"The last time you saw me, you still thought I was a little girl, didn't you?" Fiona replied.

"Hmm, yes. But it's different now."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Two years are a long time."

"Two years alone are a long time. Why didn't you come back here more often?"

"You know how it is." Fred said vaguely. "You just get caught up with it and you don't really have to come back unless you're called."

It was too vague, also Fred had made a point of complaining to Aldea whenever they had been away from the Branch for more than a few weeks. Fiona drew back from the tight hug they were still tangled in to look at his face again, but it sported his usual grin. She couldn't help, but glance at his lips before her eyes flicked to his eyes.

"I don't believe you."

"I didn't expect you, too."

"Give me a proper answer to my questions." Damn him and his stupid intelligence. He had always been the star student, even though he had entered the Black Order after Fiona. He had, however, instantly risen to the role of protecting her like a younger sister.

"Make me." Then he blew softly into her ear and she almost jumped out of his lap.

"Oh, stop it." she said smacking him lightly on the head. "What should we do now?"

"We could go for a walk." Right on cue, his stomach rumbled slightly.

"A walk to the canteen, maybe?" Fiona giggled and in a fit of nervous confidence she pecked him on the lips before jumping down from his lap.

They had barely sat down at their table, when they were joined by Marie and although she sat in near silence for the duration of the meal. Fiona, at least, felt a distinct awkwardness. She was nervous about how openly Fred would advertise the change in their relationship. But the chit-chat was light and designed to get Marie to join and possibly reveal a little about herself too, but she didn't.

It was after Marie took her leave, again in silence, that Fiona asked Fred "Will you tell me something?"

"Always." was the thoughtlessly given answer. Good.

"How serious are you?"

"Well, I like a good prank." Git, thought Fiona.

"You know what I mean."

He put down the spoon with which he was eating his pudding and sighed. "Very, which is why I'm currently kicking myself about not doing this earlier. I can't blame you if you don't really trust me on this. I know I've sometimes been an ass on purpose. I'm still not convinced that I should have asked you.

"But now, I think we should get out the word. Just to make sure the other guys back off."

"What other guys?" Fiona was puzzled, Fred was making it sound like she had a pack of boys vying for her affection.

"Well, there are at least two finders at the table behind you that are glancing at you so much that I feel compelled to do this." He leaned quickly over the table, tilted her head up and kissed her.

Now, Fiona had always imagined it would be utmost embarrassment to be kissed or kissing in public, but when it came down to it, it felt nice. The flutter in her stomach made her blush slightly, but from affection.

She barely even noticed the clang from at least one dropped fork, but Fred did. He was also sure several people would have to pick their jaw off the floor. But then his thoughts returned to the girl he was kissing and was now sporting tinged cheeks.

Then he took her hand and spun her under her arm once for dramatic effect, extracting a laugh from her, before leading her out of the canteen.

Fiona was slightly bemused by his treatment, but she went with it, finding herself laughing at his obvious efforts to, as he had said, 'make sure the other guys back off'.

"Well, that was fun." she informed him as they made their way along empty corridors once more.

Elsewhere in the world, the current mood was not as lighthearted.

"Theodore Unit: Daysia Barry. Sokalo Unit: Kazaana Lido, Chaker Rabon. Cloud Unit: Tina Spark, Gwen Flail, Sol Galen. A total of six exorcists, all dead." Reever Wenham's voice was heavy with emotion as he read of the names of the dead. Komui' face registered shock and he barely listened as Reever continued "Including the Finders, that's a total of 148 confirmed dead." The number sank through the shock like a block of ice sliding down the spine.

The hall was full of coffins, but it was surprisingly quiet as the mourners were few and many were unable to even cry for the friends and colleagues they had lost.

It was therefore easy to make out the words of doubt that were whispered around the hall by the gloomy spectators.

"Six exorcists..."

"This is not good. Aren't they meant to be the disciples of God? Hey!"

"They aren't supposed to die."

"If the exorcists are no match for them, then there's no hope for us."

"What's going to happen to us?"

"Are we going to be killed... by the Earl..." This last statement echoed through the hall and Reever had had enough.

"Shut up." His voice was not raised, but it echoed through the hall as well as the previous statement. "You shouldn't be bitching and moaning in front of returned friends who gave up their lives for our cause."

Except for the weeping the silence was now absolute. There was a sudden movement. Komui had taken off his hat. "Welcome home." He greeted the dead. "Thank you for your efforts." and in a gesture of respect and farewell he bowed.

"It's still early, shall we go to the training room for a bit?" Fred asked.

"Depends on what you want to do. We could go to the library? No one apart from me ever goes there." Fiona suggested.

"Ahem, and me." They looked around at the voice, but there was no one there. But from the voice Fiona took a guess. "Viktor? Is that you?"

"Yes." the sound came clearly from two feet in front of them, but there was nothing there.

Fred tightened his grip on Fiona's hand and whispered to her. "Who's that?" But she turned to the invisible speaker instead.

"Did you turn yourself invisible by accident again?"

"Umm, well, it's kinda... I didn't...You see, this akuma-" There was a pregnant pause, before Viktor mumbled. "Yes, I did."

"And the time limit is?" Fiona asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. You know how it disappears after I use it. It was meant to last for 50 minutes, but that was almost two days ago, so I guess it's 50 hours." There was an edge to Viktor's voice that clearly told them not to laugh, but Fiona couldn't help herself.

She and Fred burst out laughing although Fred was obviously not getting the whole story.

They heard someone stamping off, but Fiona called him back. "Hey, Viktor. How did you manage to travel if you're invisible?"

"I'm not telling you. You'll laugh at me. And anyway," There was a swish as if he had turned sharply, "who is that?"

"I" said Fred. "am Fred and you had better be polite to my girlfriend."

"Your what? Fiona is he-" But the question died in his throat. Fiona had stretched and kissed Fred. "Eww." was the reaction.

"Viktor, you're such a baby." Fiona laughed, albeit nervously, embarrassed by her own initiative.

"Oh, is it wearing off?" Fred said, as there was a slight shimmer in the air and a vaguely human shape could be made out disturbing the space.

"Urgh, finally. It's so hard to shower and to put on clothes when you're invisible."

"Why didn't you put on clothes that aren't invisible?" Fred asked.

"One, it would scare people and they would start yelling 'GHOST' and run away, also it's more like a barrier hiding me, but clothes are under the barrier. Bags aren't though or things that I'm carrying."

"That's awkward."

The barrier was indeed wearing off, by now you could almost see the features of his face and the edges of his clothes.

"Well, now I can go see Renee. What I don't get though is why she couldn't have told me whatever it two weeks ago when I was here." He sighed heavily as if it had been very irksome to return to home.

"Wait a minute. You were suddenly recalled?"

"Yeah, I was meant to only get here in three days, though. But with the invisibility thing I managed to speed things up a bit."

"Three days." Fiona's brain had ground into analytical mode. She had been suddenly recalled, so had Viktor. She was given a check-up and called to Renee's office, where she'd been briefed on her new mission and she had been told she would get more details in three days. Viktor had been scheduled to arrive that day. She was surprised she was the only one who heard her brain click.

The boys had now shaken hands and were talking while Fiona stood there dumbstruck and struggling with herself. Should she tell him about the mission? It wasn't as if she'd been told that the mission was confidential. But she wasn't sure she was right, nor was she sure if Viktor would believe her. They didn't know each other that well. However, they did know each other well enough that he might be angry at her for not telling him. This is turn would be problematic, if he really was coming with her as they'd have to work together.

Well, then she would tell him about the mission and about the fact she would be getting more details in three days and hopefully he would figure it out, but no, that wouldn't do. He would probably start crying thinking she was saying goodbye.

Then something started waving across her eyes and she blinked. Viktor had been waving his hand in front of her face and was saying "Hello, you still there?" Then before she could answer he actually flicked her on the forehead.

"Ouch." Reflexively, she slapped him back.

"Hey! What was that for?" Holding his red cheek.

"I'm sorry, it was a reflex. I was thinking about something."

Fred stepped in. "Yeah, we could see that. Is everything okay?" It seemed Fred hadn't picked up on what Viktor had said either.

"Well, I was thinking about my new orders and -" But she was interrupted.

"Mr. Winter, you are earlier than you had indicated. However, I must ask you to immediately talk to Ms. Epstain, as she has something urgent to discuss with you." It was that clear voice that Fiona hated yet again. The assistant to the head of the Branch.

"Alright. I'm coming. See you, Fiona. Nice meeting you, Fred." and then he strolled of at a leisurely pace.

"Does he get the meaning of urgent?" Fred asked, casually draping his arm around Fiona's shoulders as he said it.

"No." Conversation was slow after this and soon Fiona excused herself and went to bed early, still thinking over the information Viktor had given her.


	6. Chapter 5 Tempers

A/N: I've noticed that sometimes some words go missing if I try to edit my stories on fanfiction, which I have done probably every time I've uploaded a new chapter, so I hope that clears up some confusion about passages sometimes seeming like their missing a word or half a word.

I might have to change my upload schedule a little, because it turns out that I'm always busy tuesdays, which means I don't know when the next upload will be. But it will probably not be next tuesday, but there should be one sometime next week.

Enjoy.

5. Tempers and tying up a loose end

"Marie? Can I come in?" The next morning saw Fiona knocking on Marie's door once again. "Just a moment." was the answer.

Fiona waited only a minute or so when she was bad to enter. "Marie, when I askedd if I could come in, I was asking whether you were decent." Marie was wearing nothing but two towels, one around her hair and the other wrapped tightly around her body from her chest to her knees. "I was in the shower, I didn't want to make you wait too long."

Fiona sat down in the same kind of swivel chair that was in her own room and turned it away from her partner. "There's a new mission."

There came a muffled response. "Not a big surprise. When are we leaving?"

"It's for me alone."

Marie was silent. Fiona looked around cautiously. "Argh, Marie! Put your clothes on!" Fiona grabbed the towel that Marie had discarded while pulling on her pants and threw it over Marie's rather pronounced chest. "I don't mind being seen naked. I'm used to bathing with all the other female staff." She covered herself with the towel. "You grew up differently."

"Eh, yes." Fiona returned to her chair and turned resolutely away again.

There were a few minutes of silence.

"So, we're now longer a team then." Marie asked. She crossed the room to a set of drawers.

"Yes." Fiona was glad to see that Marie was fully dressed now. She had also removed the towel from her hair. She started to brush her chocolate coloured hair carefully. Fiona moved over and took the brush out of Marie's hand. "Here, I'll do it." Marie had quite short hair at the back, cut above her collar. Towards the front of her head, however, it was longer so that the foremost strands grew past her shoulders. She usually kept her two foremost strands tightly braided.

Fiona braided Marie's hair in silence. "Why don't we schedule a trip to the village and talk a bit? As friends."

Marie pulled open another drawer, this one was full of belts. She pulled out two and Fiona saw that it was actually a holster. One of the many that Marie had. This particular one being designed to hold the weapon in place on the left shoulder blade.

"Sure, we can do that. I'd suggest shopping, but I don't have any money." Marie clipped the holster into place and slid her anti-akuma weapon into it. "We can do it this morning. I'm free, I think."

She swung her waist length cloak, embellished with the Rose Cross, around her curvy frame and then pulled on her boots.

"I have a bit of money and we can travel for free anyway." Fiona said. "I wasn't expecting to leave straight away. I'll have to get my cloak." and tell Fred, she mentally added.

They met at the entrance to the pyramid a few minutes later.

"You're wearing gloves? Are you even allowed to do that?" Marie was surprised, it wasn't like Fiona to ignore the uniform protocols. Actually, maybe it was. After a year of travelling, she still didn't know her teacher as well as she would like too. Maybe there was more truth to Fiona's rather rebellious sounding stories than she had believed.

Fiona pulled up her gloves past her wrist and smoothed out the creases. They were a perfect white with an 'F' embroidered on the left glove. "I have enough skin on my body, I may not be able to exactly follow the fashion of the world, but I would like strangers to at least think I'm just a woman. Just one of us wearing the cross is enough."

"I had no idea you craved to be just a woman sometimes. Personally, I prefer wearing my uniform and not having to wear what is expected of me because of my gender."

"But you are happy to wear the uniform you are ordered too? Rather curious, don't you think?" Fiona had stopped walking and raised an eyebrow at Marie, challenging the girl beside her.

Marie opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it with a look that told Fiona that it was something private.

"You know, I know everything it says in your file about your past. I know you killed someone with the gun that you've got strapped to your back." Fiona said, choosing her words carefully, but she couldn't stop the slightly disapproving tone they held. She was annoyed at herself for it, knowing she didn't have a completely clean record either. Marie stiffened at the words, hunching her shoulders slightly. "How long have you known?"

"Ever since your file exists. Renny thought it important for me to know, if I was to teach you. You never said why you did it, she was wary of you. As was I at first." Fiona had resumed walking, trying to lighten the mood. "But that is no longer so. I feel deeply responsible for you and I trust you. That's why I think I am also ready to hear what you did before you came here. I want to know who you were before I no longer have the chance."

Marie tried to escape the question even though she felt that Fiona had a point. "I was a maid in the house of a rather wealthy man due to a very kind maid that saved me from the streets after my mother died in childbirth. Nothing very special about the whole thing."

This was about all Fiona had ever gotten out of Marie. Fiona gave her a slightly annoyed look, but couldn't pursue her questioning as she asked the entrance guard for a carriage.

Fiona wasn't about to let the subject drop completely though. As soon as the carriage had drawn up to the entrance and Marie and herself had climbed into it, she tried to carefully continue it. "Marie, but both of us have a past. I have trusted you with some of mine, I ask for you to tell me what happened to make the usually gentle and shy you murder someone." Usually, Fiona thought, well, nowadays anyway.

"It isn't murder if you're-" Marie paused "removing a murderer."

Fiona stayed silent, trying not to push her student. But it seemed like she had finally found a way to crack the wall.

"There was another girl in the household I worked at. It was a big household. There were lots of servants and two of them had a little girl just about a year after I was born. We were raised as sisters. But we were physically quite different. She was always a little weaker and smaller than average. Even though we were not treated very well and there was enough work as it was, many of the other servants would help her with any harder tasks.

"She was very beautiful. Her hair was such a light colour it was almost white.

"It wasn't long before the young master noticed us. He was kind enough, but very spoiled and well versed in doing what was necessary to get what he wanted. My sister and I were assigned as his personal maids once I became fourteen. In fact, he requested it. His personal butler warned me that he had taken a favour me. I was intrigued, but irrefutably not interested. To me he was not attractive in any way, because even at the age of barely twenty he was becoming fat and I knew his attraction was not because of genuine affection." Her voice became increasingly hollow.

"One day I went to the market with one of the other members of the household, there had been a request from the young master for a particular dish and we were lacking some of the ingredients. Usually it was my sister who went on these trips, but that day she near begged me to take over for her."

Fiona had been unknowingly tensing in her seat, sure that the event that had caused Marie to become a killer neared. Before Marie could continue, however, the carriage jerked to a halt. Fiona cursed under her breath.

Marie had been shaken out of her monologue. She stared at Fiona wide eyed, surprised at herself for speaking for so long.

"Let's get out. There is a train in thirty minutes. We can sit on the platform benches." Marie was silent once more and Fiona wasn't sure if she would continue her story. Fiona waited for a few minutes, then tried to coax Marie to continue.

"You were telling me that you had to go and get something instead of your sister going."

"Yes, she stayed behind and I gave it no thought. It had happened before that we would swap our duties.

"It seems my sister was stronger than I thought, it had always been me protecting her and often enough myself. I was normally shy, but when I was angry I had no inhibitions. That day she protected me. Aware that I was not interested in him, the young master had arranged to get my sister and his butler out of the way so he could-" at this point Marie suddenly shook violently and she hugged herself tightly under her cloak. Fiona put her arm around her, sure she knew what the young master had planned. "could... ta-take me f-for himself." Fiona looked on numbly, shocked by what she was hearing and she said softly "You can stop. It's okay, I don't need to know."

"Yes, you should." Marie took Fiona's hand and held it tightly. Then she breathed in deeply and continued. "My sister had heard the young master telling a friend about what he had in store for me, so she was trying to keep me away from him and certainly wasn't letting me stay alone with him.

"She took my place. I don't know exactly what happened, but when I came back she had been strangled." A tear rolled down Marie's cheek. "She was still warm and he stood over her, completely nude. I knew he had a gun hidden in his room and before I knew it I stood beside the fireplace with my finger curled around the trigger. I don't remember considering wether to shoot him. I just did it. I just shot him."

Marie's voice was glacial, but her eyes burned with a turmoil of emotion.

"I can imagine that that was when the real problems started." Fiona didn't bother to hide her curiosity about her friends past. Marie laughed and quite heartily at that. It was infectious enough to make Fiona giggle. Then she break out into laughter herself. As they laughed the train bustled towards them and screeched to a halt at the single platform.

They got on and took seats in an empty carriage. "So, will you tell me why I was unintentionally hilarious." Fiona asked, finally calm enough to speak.

"It was the way you said it. That sentence can never convey the trouble I had." Marie gazed out of the window for a moment, but Fiona could tell that she wasn't seeing the countryside at all. "It's lucky the order found me when they did. After I had shot the young master I brought my sister to the head maid, who was my foster mother and my sister's real mother and left my sister with her. After that, I ran carrying only the gun, a loaf of bread, a few pieces of silver cutlery that I stole on my way out and a travelling cloak.

"I just ran as far away as possible in the next week and even found someone kind enough to give me some more food after I collapsed from hunger and exhaustion in the middle of nowhere. But I didn't stay there. I felt like I was still to close. I didn't want to talk to anyone either. So, I left them in the middle of the night. I paid them for their kindness by giving them some of the cutlery and I continued my way into the unknown."

Fiona broke the pause that followed "You didn't use your innocence yet, though. How did you discover that?"

"Well, the first thing I noticed was the gun. I examined it closer a few days later when I was in the middle of a forest and I was sitting under a tree. I didn't know what to do any more, my food was running out again and I had no idea where I was. I kept relieving the moment I shot the bastard that killed my sister. And I could still feel her getting slowly colder in my arms." Marie held out her arms, as if she was cradling someone and stared wide eyed down at them, as if she could still see her sister lying there.

Fiona took Marie's hands and gently took them in hers. Marie looked up. "I wanted to join her." she whispered, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I wanted to fade from this life, so I took out the gun and I saw that it was smaller than it had been. It looked like a silly little toy in my hand not the revolver it had been when I killed. It startled me enough to stop me that time."

"That time?" Fiona asked.

"I wasn't long deterred from my suicidal thoughts." Marie paused again, her mouth was dry from having talked so long. She rallied her thoughts. "You know how akuma hone in on weak exorcists. Well, I came to a bridge with a river and I tried to throw my gun away." Marie took it out of her holster and held it between her hands. "I didn't want to look at it ever again and after I threw it away, I climbed up on the railing and wanted to jump after it.

"But akuma had been tailing me and when I threw my gun away, one darted after it trying to destroy the innocence. A second startled me so much I fell from the bridge." Fiona sucked in her breath sharply, even though she knew that Marie had obviously survived.

"The finders found me then. Apparently I was bleeding rather nicely from this wound." Marie touched her hair just above her right ear, where Fiona knew there was a large unpleasant scar underneath her dark hair. "I woke up a week later, in a tiny room in an inn somewhere. The first thing I saw when I looked around was that wretched gun or at least that was what I thought at the time. A female finder came in just as I started to scream in the frustration of simply being alive. I think I fainted again almost straight away though and the next time I woke I felt calm, accepting and that was when I was told that I was an exorcist and about the war.

"I relished the idea of doing something dangerous, something that might get me killed."

"I remember that you." Fiona said quietly. Seeing once more the Marie she had first met. A girl with long badly kept hair, empty eyes and an extremely reckless demeanour during encounters with akumas. "I was so angry at you."

"Yeah, you tried teaching me though, not that I listened. You yelled a lot, too, and I was sure you hated me."

"I hit you often as well, because you wouldn't train with your innocence." Fiona smiled a little.

"I remember you forcing me to wash my hair and then I cut it because I was finally allowed to in the order." Marie paused. "Then you started saving my life."

"Yeah, because you weren't doing that and I wasn't going to let you die on my watch."

"If it weren't for that, I would never have gotten you hurt enough to end up in hospital, though, and you would never have told me to live."

"You were crying when I woke up and I know why now. You were so scared that you'd killed again, weren't you?"

"Yes." Marie squeezed her eyes shut in a wince. "and when you just said 'live, Marie' and closed your eyes again, I was so sure you had died. But you never let go of my hand even while unconscious."

"That's not possible, Marie. I was unconscious." Fiona was pretty sure Marie had been gripping her hand, not the other way around. The purple blotches the next day indicated that.

"But it's true." Marie argued. They fell into silence, with Fiona smiling softly and Marie feeling a little relieved after her storytelling.

After passing trees, small villages, farms and even more trees, Fiona sighed and turned back to her fellow carriage occupant. "Marie." She started softly, the called turned towards her. "I need to tell you something about the missions I'm going on."

"Let me guess, it's highly dangerous." Marie said, as if she didn't really care.

"Umm, yeah, probably. I hadn't really thought about that. The thing I wanted to tell you was that I'm probably not coming back."

Marie misunderstood. "WHAT? She's sending you on a suicide mission on your own. And you're actually going on it?" She had jumped to her feet and was glaring at a surprised Fiona. "What the hell is that hag thinking?"

Lost, Fiona said something intelligent along the lines of "Huh?"

Marie continued ranting. "This is a load of crap! After everything you've done for them, they're just sending you away." Marie had turned to glare out of the window, but now she whipped around to Fiona and near yelled "And don't tell me it's an honour and your duty or some other shit like that!"

But Fiona had caught on and got to her own feet. "Marie," she started soothingly "that's not it." Marie looked unconvinced and Fiona grabbed her arm. "I swear to God, I am not going on that kind of mission. I'm going to Europe."

The sentence hung there and Marie's face slowly fell as she digested it. The anger slid from her face to be replaced by sadness and loneliness.


	7. Chapter 6 Worry

Another Tuesday, another update. Only one week later than I thought, oh well. It's better than I thought it would be. College has not completely doused my inspiration. Enjoy and advertise or review, either is good. Thank you.

6. Dealing with Worries

The rest of the morning was not fun. Not even the ultimate cheer-up as some girls saw it, window shopping, could cast even an expression of interest onto Marie's face and after a while Fiona gave up. Instead she choose a restaurant for lunch and they sat down.

The silence between them was obvious even to the waiter and he said only what was necessary. In fact, as Fiona hid herself behind her menu, she desperately wished for an akuma in the hope that the trip wouldn't be a total waste of time.

The door opened and two guys walked in. Fiona carefully watched them take a seat, but was disappointed as they started discussing something loudly in heavily accented voices, that were certainly not that of akuma.

She sighed and dropped the menu onto the table. It was so heavy it slammed down harder than she had expected, a sharp slap that sounded exactly like a slap in the face. She felt the awkwardness increase tenfold. Fiona restrained from sighing loudly and drumming her fingers on the table with some difficulty and looked around at the other patrons in the restaurant, reassuring herself again that no one was an akuma, but she might as well be trying to kill her shadow, there was really no way to distinguish, only degrees of likelikood. However, there was nothing out of place.

Couples were chatting in low voices. The two guys who had recently walked in were laughing at some joke. A couple of girls were eying the handsome gentleman in the corner and occasionally glancing at Fiona and Marie, obviously confused by their odd clothes.

In the mirror, she could see that a family of four was dining early in a separate room. Nothing interesting there, so Fiona glanced towards the door and the windows out onto the street. People were walking past idly, except for the servants that all had a slightly harried look on their face.

"I always knew I was in the Order to atone for my sin."

Fiona's head flicked around so fast, she cricked her neck. Marie sighed "And now my only friend gets sent away."

Fiona would have said something, but at this point their waiter served them their tea and food.

Marie sighed again. "When will it be enough?"

"It was enough ages ago." Fiona said quietly and she saw that Marie's eyes were catching the light better than usually. "The Order may not be freedom, but it gave you a second chance. You stopped atoning once you stopped trying to kill yourself. You should have realised it the moment we held a welcoming party. When we started telling you off for not taking care of yourself. When they paired you with me and didn't just hand you a mission and send you away.

"You refused to see our open arms. I thought you were annoying and an idiot. In, fact sometimes you still are." Fiona paused, hoping to maybe get a weak smile, but no luck. "You always had a terrible way of trying to mother me." She leant over the table. "Exorcists are taught to never trust anyone. We live in a world were trust could mean getting killed. At the same time we need to be able to trust our comrades. We trust anyone in this uniform, because it would be mad to live day to day relying only on yourself. You were trying to do that.

"It doesn't work, it didn't. You tried, but after a while I saw that the only reason you could still be reckless was because you knew I was there. You can't lie to me about that. You admit it with your mothering that you care about me and I'm pretty sure that's exactly how you talked with your sister. It's your way of showing how much you care.

"The barrier you thought separated you from us never existed. Not really. I can't tell you how happy everyone in the order is when they hear that another exorcist has been found, but at the same time we know that every exorcist leaves something behind or lost something when they discovered their innocence.

"When I leave, I want you to promise me that you'll make friends with the rest of the Order. Well, maybe not everyone. There's this one really disgusting guy in the science department, you can skip him." Fiona wasn't even sure were the words were coming from, but it was obvious these were things she had wanted to say to Marie for a long time.

"Now, first things first. You have, to my knowledge, smiled exactly six times in the past year. Leaving out all the fake or forced smiles, of course. Not one of those was in front of anyone other than me. So," Fiona gave Marie a glare that made the other girl shrink into her seat. "homework today is start smiling."

"Homework?" Marie mouthed.

Fiona sipped her tea, then smiled brightly as she put it down. "See, it's not hard."

"You still look evil." Marie took a sip from her own cup.

"If this table wasn't too big and this cafe so full, I would hit you for that, my dear." Fiona retorted still smiling pleasantly as if she was engaged in cheerful conversation rather than teasing. "Would you please smile and then we'll see what the reaction of say that young gentleman in the corner behind me is."

"I refuse."

"I refuse to leave this cafe until you've smiled."

"Then we shall be in here a long time."

"Fine. Waiter!" Their waiter approached immediately. "We'll be needing more tea and a plate of your assorted cakes."

"You can't keep me here." Marie was staring at the still smiling redhead.

"You're underage, Marie. Therefore, I, as an represent of the Black Order, am your guardian."

"You're evil." Marie's voice was faintly amused, but her visage held her usual passive expression.

"Sometimes."

Fiona sipped more of her tea, watching as Marie became ever more irritated over the course of half an hour.

"Mhe-hem." Marie cleared her voice a little. "Do I really have to smile?"

"Yes."

"Is this okay?" Her eyes creased, but her smile was not warm.

"Hmm, we'll need to practice that. However, it will do for now."

"You're just bored, aren't you?"

"No, those giggling girls are getting on my nerves. If they want to talk to the guy over there, they should just do it." They paid and left.

Still not riveted by the things in the shop windows they passed, they decided to go back to the Branch. The train after all would give them another chance to talk and reminisce. Which was exactly what they did. But this only took up one of the two hours the train took, after that silence filled the air between them again. In this time Fiona mentally reviewed her speech from earlier. Editing and thinking about what else she should have said as she had been on a role.

She opened her mouth several times in an attempt to rectify these mistakes, but she thought better of it every time. Twice, Fiona glanced up at Marie to find her smiling at her reflection in the train window. The first time it looked strained and unnatural, the second time it made her look so radiant that Fiona wondered if the smiles she'd been graced with so far had still all been mere shadows of this true smile.

Seeing this Fiona sighed with relief and patted herself on the back for managing to convince Marie with her bumbling speech.

That way she could say the morning hadn't been a waste of time.

Having finally exhausted the possibility of editing previous speech further and finding nothing particularly riveting in the countryside she had seen time and again, she cast her mind around, but nothing came to her apart from a desire to work of the cake from the cafe with a nice fitness session.

"Ow!" Fiona cursed colourfully as pain jarred from her fist up to her arm.

She had just swung at a steel dummy with her fist, which she had reinforced with layer upon layer of skin until it was about twice it's usual size. However, it was now peeling like an onion as she tried to rid it of the excess skin to assess the damage she had done to her hand.

The dummy, incidentally, was not impressed, it was merely slightly dented in a way that gave it a lopsided grin.

"Now, this looks interesting."

"Give me a minute with here, Fred. There's something I need to tell him."

"I assume he won't be smiling after you're done with him?"

"I'm afraid he might no longer be in the mood."

"Well, then I certainly wouldn't want to get in the way."

The dummy was in one piece for about a minute longer. After it lay in pieces around her, Fiona discarded the pieces of greenly glinting skin and joined Fred. He gave her a kiss.

"So, was it a pleasant conversation?"

"Well, he didn't take it so well that I was breaking up with him for you." They sat down on the ground with Fiona leaning against the wall.

"Seriously, though, no innocence in here, remember?"

"Oh, there was no one around."

"And the steel dummies are only for the training weapons."

"When in the last two years did you suddenly become such a stickler for the rules?" Fiona asked. Most of their conversation regarding rules had been one or the other trying to convince the other to break some rule or other.

"Oh, I don't know. When I saw you using a technique you had discarded as failed on a steel dummy. Why did you try it out again?" Fred moved so that he was leaning across Fiona, bracing his weight with one hand on the other side of her.

"The akuma in Europe are meant to be way harder to fight than here."

Fred made a disbelieving sound. "I don't think they're harder to kill, there's just more of them."

"But then why are there no Generals in North America? There's never been a General in North America because it wasn't necessary." Fred was going to interrupt, but Fiona forestalled him by continuing. "Which means I should do everything I can to prepare myself, which means cranking up my power a little."

"You're more worried than you're letting on, aren't you?"

Fiona laughed. A high unnatural laugh. "More worried? I don't think I've ever been more worried and afraid in my life." She flung her arms around Fred. "I don't know what's going to happen to me."

"Have you ever since you entered the Order?" Fred asked softly.

"I could pretend so. I told myself that I would always come back here, back home. You, Aldea and I were a family, it was only after his death that whenever I became slightly lonely, I would to take out my golem, knowing home was just a phone call away.

"Now, I'm not sure I'll ever see you again. The atlantic is a little big to traverse regularly you know." Her sarcasm was bitter. "It takes 3 weeks to travel between the branches, I doubt they'll let me make the trip regularly."

"Stop it, Fiona." His voice was soft. "Don't you trust me to stay alive?"

"Of course I do. How -"

"If you trust me to stay alive and I promise you I will, I believe that you are better than the exorcists in Europe. Nothing is going to change between us. We just have to continue trusting that we'll both survive." The firmness of his belief was palpable in his voice. "Maybe we could at least write as well, though." Followed immediately by the slight comical lilt that Fiona associated with his grin, but right now it was absent.

"I -" She started.

"You know, you two are just plain disgusting." Both Fred and Fiona rolled their eyes at Viktor, who had chosen this moment to butt into the conversation. Fred stood abruptly and pulled Fiona up with him. "If we bother you this much we'll go somewhere more private." and with that he picked up Fiona and flung her over one shoulder.

"Oi!" She protested, as his shoulder dug into her stomach. "I can walk, thanks."

"I know you can, but I'm sure you're tired from killing the steel dummy."

Fiona would have continued protesting, but she had decided that the view wasn't so bad after all.

"Dude," said Viktor in a tone of disbelief. "she's watching your ass."

"Viktor!" Fiona squeaked, colouring immediately.

"That's okay. I watch hers, too."

"Fred!" Then she paused. "Wait, what? Really?"

"Yep." Was the answer.

Unsure whether to feel flattered about this or not, Fiona closed her mouth.

"By the way, Fred, before you sweep Fiona off. I'd like a word with you." Viktor took of his glasses and cleaned them. Fred paused at the door.

"What is it?"

"Epstain wants to see you. It's a briefing on where you're going next."

Fred turned his head, but didn't reply. Slowly, he slid Fiona down from his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He excused himself and left.

Fiona's heart pattered more than pounded, as it occurred to her just how stupid she'd been. She had counted on Fred to be there until she left, but of course he wouldn't. He had his duty to fulfil even in the time she was preparing to leave.

She suddenly felt naive, young, inexperienced, almost stupid. She had seen him for the first time in almost two years and now that they met again they had become instantly inseparable in Fiona's mind.

Fiona sighed, she could always trust Fred to screw with her mind. Or rather, she could trust her own brain to fall apart when he was around.

There was a clatter behind her. Viktor had picked up a part of the steel dummies head.

"Did you do this?" He asked. Fiona shrugged in response. "Weirdo." Viktor stretched the vowels in time with the clang the piece of metal made as he dropped it.

"Well, for some of us, training includes physical training." Fiona wasn't feeling up for a discussion with Viktor, they always ran much too wild.

"Urgh, thank God that my innocence allows me to be lazy and practice my creative writing."

"What part of creative writing includes being a coward who turns himself invisible?"

Viktor was shocked by what the girl had said. He had always thought of Fiona as a good friend, even though they had worked together only once. He hadn't never seen this side of her.

"For your information," His voice was cold. "our job is not about bravery, it's about vanquishing as many akuma and saving as many humans as possible." He turned on his heel and stalked off, his long cloak catching the air and flapping sharply.

Fiona wanted to sink into the ground and disappear because of what she had said. She wasn't even sure why she had said it. She had a great respect for Viktor's power, it was after all incredibly versatile and strong.

In fact, it was the perfect defensive innocence, possibly second only to the legendary Embracing Garden. Which again strengthened the theory that he and Fiona would be transferred together.

That made her feel worse. It would probably be awkward for days after that conversation.

Fred was indeed given a mission, but due to a reason that Fred neglected to give, Renee Epstain had given him a few days before he had to leave. He returned to the training room just as Fiona was picking up and disposing of the last pieces of the destroyed dummy.

However, he left again rather hurriedly, saying that he had something he had to take care off. Having nothing better to, Fiona continued training for a little while before finally deciding she wouldn't give that day another chance to make her feel guilty or sad and went to bed.

N/A I'm afraid there will be another chapter or two without a lot of action, but I hope to get it to pick up a little after that.


	8. Chapter 7 Unencumbered

7. Un/encumbered

Fiona found herself being woken earlier than even she liked. Renee Epstain's assistant near dragged her out of her bed a good two hours before Fiona would get up.

Now, she was sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the Branch Heads desk, nudging awake Viktor who had fallen asleep in the thirty seconds it took between sitting down and Renee Epstain moving from one of the filing cabinets back to her chair.

He made some kind of noise, but Fiona's tired brain couldn't make it out.

"Slap him awake, if you have to, Fiona." Renee suggested, ordering two hot chocolates and a coffee on the same breath.

Fiona punched Viktor on the arm, but all it managed was to extract another sleepy grumble. She sighed and used a strand of hair to tickle the back of his neck.

Three seconds later, Viktor was lying on the floor, having taken a wild swipe at Fiona to make her stop and Fiona having retaliated by kicking over his chair.

The only thing that stopped them from having an all out childish fist fight was the sudden appearance of their hot drinks, that smelled too enticing to let them be untasted.

"Well, now that everyones awake and listening we can talk about a very serious matter. You, Fiona, already know about this of course."

"Yes, so I'm a little confused as to why Viktor's here." Not quite true, but not quite a lie.

"Firstly, Viktor, you and Fiona are getting a rather unusual assignment. You two are being sent to Europe to assist the fight against the Millennium Earl there, because a number of european Exorcists have recently been killed."

Confusion passed over Viktor's face. "I'm sorry, I think I dozed off there for a second. What?"

"You are going to the main HQ in Europe." Renee spoke so clearly she might have spelled it out for him.

"Yep, I'm still dreaming." Viktor told himself. Fiona rolled her eyes and slapped him across the back of the head.

"You're not dreaming. Renee told me two days ago. What she didn't tell me was that I was going with someone else."

Viktor mulled this over for a second. "Okay, but why Fiona and me?" He was warily testing the waters, unwilling to believe this just yet.

"You both have quiet strong Innocence powers. You're innocences can both defend, even though Viktor is obviously better suited for that, while Fiona has excellent experience in using her innocence to attack.

"Now, considering the actions of the Earl against the order in recent weeks, including a sever increase even in North America and devastating attacks against Orders and the message he left us, telling us he's searching for the 'Heart' all support the opinion that there will be a direct attack against the main Head Quarters in England."

"Excuse me, the, umm, Heart? What exactly is that?" Viktor asked Renee and even Fiona looked confused.

"You both heard the story of the innocence cube when you came to the order. Now this cube contained a part that has been dubbed the 'Heart'. This piece of innocence has the power to control all other innocences and therefore the Earl has decided to look for it to ensure that all innocence gets destroyed once and for all. It has always been assumed that the 'Heart' would be an unusually strong innocence.

"Now, do you know which teams you're on?" Renee asked.

"Cross." said Fiona.

"Yeegar." said Viktor.

"General Yeegar has died in the line of duty and Marian Cross never took seriously the fact that he had people assigned to him as apprentices. Also, as he has still not been found by his team, you two will probably be reassigned or temporarily not be assigned to a general at all."

"Well, that's... reassuring." Viktor mumbled under his breath.

"In fact, one of the reason why you two were picked is because you two should be quite effective in defending the headquarters, if the Earl starts to attack it specifically.

"But coming back to the 'Heart' just for another second. I interrupted myself. The ideal situation would of course be for all exorcists to go to Hevlaska and get themselves checked, to see if any of them are carrying the 'Heart'. This is, of course, not going to happen as we're not even certain that Hevlaska will be able to tell from touching the 'Heart' that it is the 'Heart'. However, just be warned. It can be very frightening to meet her the first time.

"Fiona, what's wrong?"

For the girl was sitting with her mouth hanging open. "Hevlaska?" She breathed. "We're going to meet Hevlaska and get our synchronisation rates? That's so -"

"Scary?" Viktor supplied.

"Amazing!" Fiona almost shrieked with excitement.

"You're also going to have a pervert with a sister complex as a boss instead of me." Renee was suddenly stern. "Now, you two have to show those guys at HQ that the American exorcists are just as good, if not better than the trash in Europe. Is that understood? And make sure you tell Komui that we have the better scientists as well."

"Um, we will." Viktor tentatively promised, as Fiona still seemed to be caught in some kind of awe.

"You're baggage will already be going Friday this week and then you two will follow a week later."

"What? Why?" Fiona was instantly snapped out of her revery.

"Have you been listening, Fiona? You're going to spend two weeks on a ship, you will be incredibly vulnerable during the crossing of the atlantic. If the Earl finds out you have to be able to fight unencumbered. Possessions can be very distracting."

"So, we have to start packing today?"

"Yes, your baggage will be collected late tomorrow evening."

"Tomorrow." Viktor said tonelessly. "Will they be protected somehow?' Voicing Fiona's thoughts.

The Branch head smiled knowingly. "That is exactly why they're going ahead of you."

There was an awkward silence between them after they had been dismissed.

"So, umm...We're going to on a mission together. Europe." He bobbed his head slightly.

"Yeah. Just us." Fiona bobbed her head back. They stood in the corridor for another few seconds before. "I'm going to go now."

"They turned from each other and shuffled off in opposite directions. Then Viktor turned around and walked past Fiona saying "And my room is this way, too."

"Yeah, see you later." said Fiona.

Somehow the second conversation with Renee had made the whole situation more serious. The part that had really driven it home that she was going to Europe was her stuff was going ahead of her.

She really couldn't say why exactly this was so worrying, as she had quite few possession and keepsakes that she didn't see particularly often as she was travelling anyway. Maybe it was because they were going tomorrow. Fred was going the same time.

Well, that's neatly planned, thought Fiona. Right, before she bumped into someone.

"Is this how we're going to hug in the future?" Fred sounded amused. "Because in that case I liked the old way better."

"Umm, no. But I am going to tell you something that has the potential of making you really mad." Yes, telling your boyfriend of a couple of days, that you were going on an extended trip with another guy comes across really well. Suddenly, the whole baggage thing took a back seat.

"Okay?"

"But only the potential, you might not get mad." Sure, the chance of that happening was big, really big. Fiona pecked some imaginary dust of Fred's shirt.

"Fiona, spit it out."

"I have a partner for this mission."

"I see." He paused. "No, I don't. This was meant to get me mad."

"It's Viktor Winter."

"That bastard! Why does he get to tour Europe with you? He doesn't even think you're pretty." Ah, there we go, thought Fiona.

"Hey, umm, touring? This isn't an amusement trip."

"And that's exactly why I should be there, because we work well together. I mean Viktor's completely new at this. He can't protect you."

"I knew you'd say that. It's not my fault though, you'll have to take it up with Renee." Fiona thought it was better to say this rather than getting mad about the fact that she could apparently not protect herself, which she'd only been doing for about five years.

"Well, maybe I will." and he actually made a move towards Renee's office. Quickly, Fiona kissed him full on the lips.

"You don't have to do that. I'm much more likely to have to protect him while he writes in his book."

"I'm still going to Renee's." He started forward again, but Fiona placed placating hands on his chest.

"There's a reason why it has to be Viktor and me. It's just not possible that more people go either. I mean someone has to deal with the Akuma here."

"Would you care to explain that?"

"Well, his innocence is really good at, umm, shielding and I'm really good at attacking and killing, apparently."

"Okay, so maybe that's a good combination. I'm still going to complain though." This time he dodged right past Fiona too fast for her to catch him.

"So, Viktor doesn't think I'm pretty?" She called after him.

"I have no idea. I think so, though. Be right back."

Knowing that it was futile to argue with him further, Fiona returned to her room.

It was the same as most of the rooms for exorcists. About 20 square feet plus the bathroom and one slanted wall with a window. It was furnished with a bed, carpet, nightstand, wardrobe, table, swivel chair and two standup lamps in addition to the one on the ceiling.

The table held a few pens and was littered with a few books from the library. The wardrobe was full of spare uniforms, cloaks, underwear, socks and a few random spare clothes that she wore when she was at the Branch. A few bits and pieces from her travels and a clock lay on the nightstand because Fiona had never gotten around to hanging it up. Over the door was a wooden cross, the only indicator that the room had any connection to an Order associated with the catholic church.

The only larger object that was hers and had absolutely no connection with the Order was a mahogany box, which contained a few letters that were very important to Fiona.

Apart from that, the room was pretty bare except for a pair of socks that had somehow gotten under the desk and a pile of fresh laundry on top of the books on the desk.

It was much less than what most people would consider a home, definitely nothing compared to the mansion-like ambassadorial residence she'd lived in with her parents.

But it was home.

With a sigh Fiona contemplated how exactly she was going to fill the trunk that was now in the middle of her room. She could probably fit all her clothes, all her bathroom necessities, her mahogany box, 30 or 40 books and probably herself in it and somehow she would have to fill it.

Of course, she had to take stuff in her pack for the journey and for the rest of the days she'd spend here, which left the trunk pretty much empty.

Maybe she could convince Fred to climb in the trunk. That way he'd be happy.

Her stomach finally called a stop to her contemplation and she went to eat.

It was much later that Fred found her once more staring at her empty trunk.

"You know that you can put stuff in there and then it'll get sent to Europe. It's like magic."

"You know, I really thought you'd be more upset."

"I worked something out with Renee."

"Does it involve you getting packed in my trunk?"

"Eh, no. I'm not allowed to go with you. Want to go to my room?"

"What's wrong with my room?"

"There's a trunk in the middle of it and I have two chairs."

"We can sit on the bed."

"Okay." He pulled Fiona up and then plonked himself and her down on the bed.

"Woah, what exactly do you have planned?"

"Spending time with you, because I'm leaving tomorrow." Fred leaned forward.

"Early or late?" Fiona asked softly, as they were so close.

"Very late."

"So, we can do stuff together tomorrow, too?"

"Define stuff." He asked.

"Stuff like this." She kissed him.

"What about a party?"

"What kind of party?"

"Well, I managed to make everyone have dinner at the same time tomorrow evening. Which means-" He paused dramatically. "we're having a farewell party for you."

"Oh, thank you! But can't we spend the day together?"

"We could spend the night together."

Fiona faltered unsure what Fred was saying. "Doing what exactly?"

"Talking. Get your head out of the gutter, missy." he kissed her on the forehead.

"Considering I'm talking to you, I'm amazed that it's me who's getting reprimanded. We never had a conversation without you mentioning at least one sexual innuendo since you became a teenager."

"Well, you were the only girl around."

"I could interpret that very wrongly."


End file.
